ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
MSP operations for Kharif Marketing Season 2020-21begin in full swing; Government continues to procure crops at MSP from farmers as per its existing MSP Schemes as done in previous seasons
Government procures 44,809 MT of Paddy having MSP value of Rs. 84.60 crore from Punjab and Haryana in 3 days
The arrival of KMS 2020-21 has just begun and the Government continues to procure Kharif 2020-21 crops at MSP from farmers as per its existing MSP Schemes as done in previous seasons.
Based on the proposal from the States, approval accorded for procurement of 14.09 LMT of Pulse and oilseeds for Kharif Marketing Season 2020 for the States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Haryana. For other States/UTs approval will also be accorded on receipt of proposal for Kharif Pulses and oilseeds and procurement of FAQ grade will be made as per Price Support Scheme , if the market rate goes below its MSP during the notified harvesting period.
Upto 29.09.2020, the Government through its Nodal Agencies has procured 46.35 MT of Moong having MSP value of Rs.33 lakhs benefitting 48 farmers in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, 5089 MT of copra  having MSP value of Rs. 52.40 crore has been procured benefitting 3961 farmers in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu against the sanctioned quantity of 1.23LMT for the Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The procurement of Paddy during Kharif Marketing Season 2020-21 has started from 26th September, 2020 in Haryana and Punjab. Upto 29.09.2020, the Paddy Procurement of3,506 MT in Haryana and 41,303 MT in Punjab totaling44,809 MT having MSP value of Rs.84.60 crore at MSP of Rs 1888 per quintal has been done from 2950farmersof Haryana and Punjab.
The procurement of Cotton for the season 2020-21 shall commence from 1st October 2020 and Cotton Corporation of India  will start purchase of FAQ grade Cotton from 1st October 2020 onwards.
Ministry of Railways
Shramdaan offered at different Metro stations of Blue Line
Kolkata, Date: 01.10.2023
Metro Railway has been observing ‘Swachhta Pakhwada’ from 16th September to 2nd October 2023. During this Pakhwada, intensive cleaning and sanitization drives at stations, trains, colonies, hospital and other railway establishments are being carried out.
Senior Metro officers and staff offered Shramdaan today i.e. on 01.10.2023 at all stations of Blue Line and Noapara Carshed.
Shri Saumitra Biswas, Principal Chief Operations Manager offered Shramdan at Rabindra Sadan Metro station, Shri Sanjay Biswas, Principal Chief Mechanical Engineer, other senior officers and staff participated in Shramdan at Noapara Carshed. A Run for Swachhta was also organised at this Carshed. Shri Ashim Majumder, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer and other officers also took part in this programme at Kalighat Air-Condition and Ventilation Depot.
Apart from this Railway Protection Force , Border Security Force  personnel, Bharat Sevashram Sangha and Gurudwara Sant Kutiya volunteers also took part in this programme.
Repeated announcements were made through Public Address System to create awareness among the passengers about the importance of cleanliness in our life.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh informs that Government has increased annual intake of IAS officers to 180 through Civil Services Examination  since CSE-2012 and that of IPS to 200 from CSE-2020
As on 01.01.2022, there are 1472 vacancies in IAS and 864 vacancies in IPS in various States
Union Minister of State  Science & Technology; Minister of State  Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today informed that Government has increased the annual intake of IAS officers to 180 through Civil Services Examination  since CSE-2012. Similarly, intake of IPS officers through CSE has been increased to 200 from CSE-2020.
Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Dr Jitendra Singh said, optimal intake of directly recruited  IAS officers increased on the basis of the recommendations of Baswan Committee. The Committee had also recommended that any number above 180 would a) compromise quality; b) exceed the LBSNAA’s capacity and; c) lead to distortion in the career pyramid of IAS officers, particularly for senior posts in the Government of India.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, as on 01.01.2022, there are 1472 vacancies in IAS and 864 vacancies in IPS in various States. He added that occurrence and filing up of vacancies is a continuous process. It is the endeavour of the Central Government to fill up the vacancies in the cadres. The Union Public Service Commission  conducts Civil Services Examination  for filing up of vacancies on direct recruitment basis in the category of IAS & IPS every year.
The Minister also informed that to fill up vacancies in Promotion Quota, Selection Committee Meetings are held by Union Public Service Commission  with the State Governments.
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SNC/RR
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Ministry of Food Processing Industries
IMAC clears projects worth Rs 271 crore under chairmanship of Smt Harsimrat Badal
An Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee  under the chairmanship of Minister of Food Processing Industries Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal has approved projects worth Rs 271 crore under the Creation/Expansion of Food Processing & Preservation Capacities  scheme.
Despite the fact that the CEFPPC projects cover over 100 agro-climatic zones in the country, the projects were approved in a time span of 270 minutes. During the meetingdetailed presentations were made by the respective Programme Management Agencies  on the proposals and subsequent clarifications submitted by the applicant. IMAC examined if the applicants have complied with the basic eligibility criterion, total project cost, eligible project cost and means of finance.
During the meeting the Minister said “The emphasis is to create direct employment for youth as well as contribute towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal to double farmers’ income by 2022”.While clearing the new projects worth Rs 270 crore, Smt Badal has given focus on rural areas and generating direct employment. The projects would create direct employment of about 9 thousand and would emphasize on linking agriculture and marketing with modern food processing technologies.
Besides this the Ministry is also implementing the PM Krishi Sampada Yojna with a total outlay of Rs 6,000 crore wherein capital subsidy in the form of grants-in-aid ranging from 35 per cent to 75 per cent of the eligible project cost is being provided to investors. This is being done to undertake infrastructure and logistic projects besides setting up of food processing units in the country.
RM/SS
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Ministry of Labour & Employment
ESIC Further Extends Period for Filing ESI Contribution
3.49 Crore IPs and 12,11,174 Employers to be Benefitted
Purchase of Medicines from Private Chemists Permitted during Lockdown
The country is dealing with a very challenging situation due to COVID-19 Pandemic. Many establishments are temporarily closed and workers are unable to work. In line with the relief measures being extended by Government to business entities and workers, Employees' State Insurance Corporation  has undertaken following relief measures for its stakeholders specially Employers and Insured Persons, besides strengthening its medical resources to fight COVID-19.
As a relief measure, the period for filing ESI contribution for the month of February and March was earlier extended to 15th April and 15th May, respectively. Now, considering the hardship being faced by employers, the period for filing ESI contribution for the month of February has been further extended from earlier extended period i.e. 15th April to 15th May, 2020. The period for filing contribution for the month of March 2020 is also 15th May, 2020. No penalty or interest or damage will be levied on establishments during the extended period. 3.49 crore Insured Persons  and 12,11,174 employers will get relief with the extension of period for filing the return.
Besides these, following relief measures have been undertaken for Insured Persons and Beneficiaries.
In order to ease hardship of ESI Beneficiaries, purchase of medicines by ESI beneficiaries from private chemists during the lockdown period and its subsequent reimbursement by ESIC has been permitted.
A provision has also been made for providing medical services to IPs and beneficiaries from Tie-up Hospitals, if an ESIC Hospital is declared as a dedicated Covid-19 Hospital to cater exclusively to Corona suspected/confirmed cases. ESI beneficiaries can be referred to tie-up Hospitals for providing prescribed secondary/SST consultation/admission/ investigation, during the period for which concerned ESIC Hospital functions as dedicated Covid-19 Hospital. ESI Beneficiary may also seek Emergency/non-Emergency medical treatment from tie-up hospital directly without referral letter, in accordance with his entitlement.
Medical Benefit is provided under Rule 60-61 to the Insured persons who cease to be in insurable employment on account of permanent disablement and to the retired Insured Persons, on payment of advance lump-sum contribution for a year at the rate of Rs.10/- per month. Under the prevailing circumstances of lockdown, there may be cases where validity of the medical benefit cards issued to these beneficiaries expire as these beneficiaries are unable to deposit the advance annual lump-sum contribution due to lockdown. Such beneficiaries have been allowed to avail medical benefit under Rule 60 and 61 of ESI  till 30.06.2020.
The payment of Rs.41.00 crore  in respect of Permanent Disablement Benefit and Dependants' Benefit have been sent to the bank accounts of beneficiaries in the month of March, 2020.
Cabinet
Cabinet approves setting up of a new AIIMS in Deoghar, Jharkhand
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved setting up of a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences  in Deoghar, Jharkhand. A provision of funds worth Rs. 1103 crore has been approved for the project and the said AIIMS will be set up under the Pradhan MantriSwasthya Suraksha Yojana .
Details:
The AIIMS at Deoghar will consist of:
- A hospital with a capacity of 750 beds, trauma center facilities
- A medical college with an in-take of 100 MBBS students per year
- A nursing college with an int-ake of 60 B.Sc. students per year, residential complexes and allied facilities / services, broadly on the pattern of AIIMS, New Delhi.
- 20 Speciality/Super Speciality Departments including 15 Operation Theatres.
- An Ayush Department with 30 beds for providing treatment facilities in the traditional system of medicine.
Impact:
The setting up of new AIIMS at Deoghar will serve the dual purpose of providing super speciality health care to the population while also helping to create a large pool of doctors and other health workers in this region to be available for primary and secondary-level institutions/facilities being created under the National Health Mission .
Background:
Under the PMSSY, AIIMS have been established in Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Raipur, Jodhpur, Rishikesh and Patna. Work of AIIMS Rae Bareli , Nagpur , Kalyani  and Mangalagiri in Guntur  is in progress. Construction work has also been awarded for AIIMS, Gorakhpur .
Further, following AIIMS have also been sanctioned:
- Bathinda, Punjab in July 2016
- Guwahati , May 2017
- Bilaspur  in January 2018
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Ministry of Tribal Affairs
Shri Arjun Munda leads the Yoga Mahotsav celebrations in Khunti district, Jharkhand on occasion of International Day of Yoga today
Yoga helps us to keep healthy and there is a need to propagate this message: Shri Arjun Munda
On the occasion of International Day of Yoga, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda led in the Yoga Mahotsav celebrations at the Birsa College Stadium in Khunti District, Jharkhand today.
Deputy Commissioner Shashi Ranjan, Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar, Deputy Development Commissioner Nitish Kumar Singh, Sub-Divisional Officer Syed Riaz Ahmed, Forest Divisional Officer Kuldeep Meena also participated in the event. Apart from all the officers, a large number of school and college students as well as elderly and common people participated in the yoga practice.
Addressing the program, Union Minister Arjun Munda said that we are celebrating 75th anniversary of Independence. Due to this, International Yoga Day is being celebrated in a big way today in selected 75 cities of the country, which includes Khunti. He also said that International Day of Yoga is being celebrated not only in the country but also in different countries of the world.
The Minister explained that this year the theme of International Yoga Day is ‘Yoga for Humanity’. The Union Minister added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a theme to make International Day of Yoga more purposeful. He also said that yoga helps us to keep healthy and there is a need to propagate this message.
Apart from the district headquarters, Common Yoga Protocol was also organized in other rural and town areas on the occasion of International Day of Yoga.
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways issues clarification regarding the scrapping of tractors after 10 years
Ministry of Road Transport & Highways  has formulated the Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernization Programme or the vehicle scrapping policy for scrapping of Transport and Non-Transport vehicles which are unfit & polluting. There is no mandatory age limit prescribed for the scrapping of vehicles under the policy. A vehicle can ply on road as long as it is found fit after testing through Automated Testing Station.
Agriculture tractor is a non-transport vehicle and registered for 15 years initially. Its registration can be renewed for five years at a time, once the initial registration period of 15 years is completed.
Government of India has not fixed the age for any vehicle except certain Government vehicles as specified in the notification vide G.S.R. 29 dt. 16.01.2023.
It is therefore clarified that reports circulating in certain Section of media including twitter and WhatsApp regarding mandatory scrapping of tractors after 10 years is totally false, baseless and without any truth. Anyone spreading false information to create panic will be proceeded against as per law.
Prime Minister's Office
PM welcomes the video release of "Abundance in Millets" song
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Modi has welcome the video release of "Abundance in Millets" a song written and performed with the Prime Minister by Singer Falu to help farmers grow millets and help end world hunger.
The Prime Minister tweeted:
"Very creative and will inspire more people to embrace millets for healthy living!"
Prime Minister's Office
PM lauds Indian Navy's exceptional skill and determination
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has lauded the Indian Navy's exceptional skill and determination for untangling ONGC's complex fuel extraction equipment, enabling seamless installation of additional underwater fuel lines.
In response to a tweet by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the Prime Minister said;
"Great effort by the Indian Navy!"
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution
BIS Signs MoU with IIT Guwahati, IIT Gandhinagar and NIT Calicut for establishing ‘BIS Standardization Chair Professor’
MoU to strengthen and enhance the standards formulation activity by facilitating Research & Development projects, encouraging involvement of young minds
Bureau of Indian Standards  signed Memorandum of Understanding  with IIT Guwahati, IIT Gandhinagar and NIT Calicut for establishment of ‘BIS Standardization Chair Professor’ at these institutes. This is an initiative towards institutionalizing its engagement with the eminent institutes of the country for securing active participation of academia in standards formulation and making teaching of Indian standards an integral part of the curriculum.
The BIS Standardization Chair is created for research and development, teaching and training in the field of Standardization and Conformity Assessment in the country with focus on the areas of Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, Chemical, Earthquake Engineering, Development and Management of water resources and renewable energy projects, Infrastructure Development, Medical Biotechnology & Nanotechnology, Biomaterials, etc. This will promote excellence and leadership in teaching and research & development in the field of science and various disciplines.
On this occasion, Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Director General, BIS said that the MoUs between the premier academic institutes and BIS would strengthen and enhance the standards formulation activity by facilitating Research & Development projects, encouraging involvement of young minds in the area of standardization process and jointly organizing seminars, conferences, workshops symposia or lectures, training and short-term education programs. He also emphasized on the need to engage with start-ups and incubation centres at academic institutions in formulation of new standards and compliance with the existing. He further expressed his anticipation that technology innovation and standards development shall be interwoven seamlessly to foster development.
Prof. Parameswar K. Iyer, Officiating Director IIT Guwahati; Prof Rajat Moona, Director IIT Gandhinagar; Prof Prasad Krishna, Director NIT Calicut  assured commitment towards this initiative and agreed to take forward the collaboration with BIS.
Ministry of Science & Technology
CeNS’s gold nanostructure substrate can detect interaction between bio-molecules& chemicals in the lab
Scientists from Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences , an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology , have developed a substrate  for optical sensing applications using a gold nanostructure. Such substrates are sensitive to change in the refractive index of the surrounding medium and can detect biologically important molecules and chemicals in the laboratory. The glass substrate is decorated with gold nanostructure arrays and is embedded with intervening voids of increasing size along the length of it, which leads to tunability of the plasmonic resonances in the visible range.
The substrate has potential applications in chemical sensing and can help one to follow up the kinetics of a reaction as in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. These applications demand adjustable spectral range and resolution for high throughput screening to test efficiently under identical conditions at a time, avoiding the necessity of using multiple substrates.
Dr Viswanath and co-workers, including MsBrindhuMalani S, a research scholar, have fabricated these structures by combining colloidal lithography with inclined reactive ion etching and inclined sputtering techniques. Optical spectroscopy measurements were performed at each position along the direction of increasing intervening voids which reveal the presence of localized surface plasmon resonance , surface plasmon polaritons and hybridized modes.
These resonances were found to shift towards longer wavelengths with the position. Different morphologies on the substrate lead to 50 nm spectral tunability across 10 mm length. For refractive index sensing application, an optimum peak arising due to LSPR in reflectance was selected. The highest sensitivity of 621.6 nm/RIU was obtained for the structure in which the interstice size is maximum. Their work was published in the journal Plasmonics.
A research scholar working on this elaborates, “We often encounter vivid and vibrant colours in plants animals and in other natural phenomena. Colours which we see can also arise from the interaction of light with the smallest building blocks of matter. Then the question arises, can we change properties  of matter by shrinking it? The answer is, yes”.
“It was first discovered by Michael Faraday that on reducing the size of the gold particle to the nanometer, its colour changes to red from its familiar metallic yellow. When light interacts with free electrons in a metal, it generates collective oscillation of free electrons known as surface plasmons,” research scholar elaborated.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-019-01108-3
Figure: Schematic diagram of the substrate and field emission scanning electron microscope images showing hexagonally ordered gold nanostructure arrays at different positions. Shift of the LSPR peak with increase in refractive index of the solvents. Inset shows the variation of resonance wavelength with refractive index.
Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
ICAR-CIFRI Director Harps on Conservation of Gangetic Fishes like Hilsa & Dolphin
Kolkata, August 5, 2022
The Director of ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute , Dr B K Das has harped on conservation of Gangetic fishes like Hilsa and Dolphin in the eastern part of the country. Dr Das was speaking on the occasion of National Ranching Programme launched by the ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Barrackpore, Kolkata on August 2, 2022 in the Ganga River at Mukteshwar Ghat, Sahibganj, Jharkhand. Dr. Das sensitized the fishers ‘community to become flag bearer in the efforts of conserving the Gangetic Fishes including prized Hilsa and Dolphin. Dr Das also informed that ICAR-CIFRI has released 58 lakhs of fish seeds in different locations along the Ganga River in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore did ranching by releasing 2 Lakhs wild fish germplasm of Indian Major Carps  and Labeo calbasu in the Ganga River at Mukteshwar Ghat, Sahibganj, Jharkhand under “National River ranching programme” on August 2, 2022.
The programme was inaugurated by Shri. Ramniwas Yadav, Deputy Commissioner, Sahibganj district of Jharkhand. The programme was attended by District Fisheries Officers, Sahibganj and Shri. Ashok Choudhury, Chairman  and more than hundreds of fishers. The programme was coordinated by Dr. Raju Baitha and Shri Mitesh H. Ramteke.
Shri Yadav stated that the river ranching programmes are real efforts to rejuvenate the declining stocks of Indian Major Carps and other fishes which will help in improvement of their catch for better livelihood of the fishermen community. He also spoke on the importance of ranching and conservation and further, its impacts on the socio-economic development of the fishers’ community of the River Ganga.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Recruitment results finalized by UPSC in April, 2023
The following Recruitment Results have been finalized by the Union Public Service Commission during the month of April, 2023. The recommended candidates have been informed individually by post. Applications of other candidates were duly considered but regretted that it has not been possible to call them for interview/recommend them for the post.
Click here for the list
PIB Headquarters
PIB’S BULLETIN ON COVID-19
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- 183.82 cr vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive
- India's Active caseload currently stands at 14,704
- Active cases stand at 0.03%
- Recovery Rate currently at 98.75%
- 1,876 recoveries in the last 24 hours increases Total Recoveries to
- 4,24,87,410
- 1,233 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours
- Daily positivity rate 
- Weekly Positivity Rate 
- 78.85 cr Total Tests conducted so far; 6,24,022 tests conducted in the last 24 hours
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